11th Legislative District (New Jersey)


New Jersey's 11th Legislative District is one of 40 in the New Jersey Legislature, covering the Monmouth County municipalities of Allenhurst Borough, Asbury Park City, Colts Neck Township, Deal Borough, Eatontown Borough, Freehold Borough, Freehold Township, Interlaken Borough, Loch Arbour Village, Long Branch City, Neptune City Borough, Neptune Township, Ocean Township, Red Bank Borough, Shrewsbury Borough, Shrewsbury Township, Tinton Falls Borough and West Long Branch Borough as of the 2011 apportionment.

Demographic characteristics

As of the 2010 United States Census, the district had a population of 205,526, of whom 161,464 were of voting age. The racial makeup of the district was 156,075 White, 29,390 African American, 585 Native American, 5,631 Asian, 96 Pacific Islander, 8,526 from some other race, and 5,223 from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 24,738 of the population. The district had 151,261 registered voters as of February 1, 2020, of whom 64,133 were registered as unaffiliated, 49,620 were registered as Democrats, 35,390 were registered as Republicans, and 2,118 were registered to other parties.

Political representation

The district is represented for the 2020–2021 Legislative Session in the State Senate by Vin Gopal and in the General Assembly by Joann Downey and Eric Houghtaling.

1965–1973

In the interim period between the 1964 Supreme Court decision Reynolds v. Sims which required the creation of state legislature districts to be made as equal in population as possible, and the 1973 creation of the 40-district map, the 11th District consisted of all of Essex County. Because of its large population, the 11th Senate District elected multiple people to the State Senate at-large. It was further divided into six Assembly districts in 1967 and 1969, and five in 1971; in all cases, each district elected two people to serve in the General Assembly.
The members elected to the Senate from this district are as follows:
SessionSenators
elected
1966–19674Nicholas Fernicola Maclyn Goldman John J. Giblin Hutchins F. Inge
1968–19696Michael Giuliano Gerardo Del Tufo Alexander Matturri James Wallwork Milton Waldor David W. Dowd
1970–19716Michael Giuliano Gerardo Del Tufo Alexander Matturri James Wallwork Milton Waldor David W. Dowd
1970–19716Michael Giuliano Gerardo Del Tufo Alexander Matturri James Wallwork Milton Waldor Charles DeMarco
1972–19735Michael Giuliano Ralph DeRose James Wallwork Frank J. Dodd Wynona Lipman -

The members elected to the General Assembly from the 11th Senate District are as follows:
SessionDistrict 11ADistrict 11BDistrict 11CDistrict 11DDistrict 11EDistrict 11F
1968–1969George C. Richardson Paul Policastro Ralph R. Caputo Kenneth T. Wilson Herbert Rinaldi Philip D. Kaltenbacher
1968–1969Walter J. Vohdin Ronald Owens C. Richard Fiore Frank J. Dodd John N. Dennis Thomas Kean
1970–1971Paul Policastro George C. Richardson Ralph R. Caputo Herbert Rinaldi Kenneth T. Wilson Thomas Kean
1970–1971James Lordi Ronald Owens C. Richard Fiore David Goldfarb John N. Dennis Philip D. Kaltenbacher
1972–1973George C. Richardson Anthony Imperiale Carl Orechio Eldridge Hawkins Thomas Kean District eliminated
1972–1973Ronald Owens Frank Megaro John N. Dennis Peter G. Stewart Philip D. Kaltenbacher District eliminated

District composition since 1973

When the 40-district state legislature apportionment was created in 1973, the 11th District consisted of central Monmouth County suburban townships including Freehold, Howell, Colts Neck, Manalapan, Marlboro, Holmdel, and Hazlet with a spur from Tinton Falls to Sea Bright, and continuing up the Atlantic coastline to Highlands and Atlantic Highlands. In the 1981 redistricting, the district hugged the Monmouth County municipalities along the coastline from Manasquan to Atlantic Highlands inclusive of other inland townships and boroughs including Wall Township, Neptune Township, Ocean Township, and Oceanport. The 1990s iteration of the district remained largely the same with the exception of coastline municipalities south of South Belmar shifting to the 10th and the addition of Eatontown, Fair Haven, Rumson, and West Long Branch. Following the 2001 redistricting, most of the boroughs shifted to the 10th in the 1991 redistricting returned to the 11th while Fair Haven and Oceanport were shifted to the 12th.

Election history

Described by NJ.com as "perhaps the biggest upset of the night", Republican Jennifer Beck lost her bid for re-election to the Senate in 2017 to Democratic challenger Vin Gopal, in what was the third-most expensive of the 120 legislative races statewide, with total spending in excess of $4 million. The district had been represented only by Republicans since 1992. With the addition of heavily Democratic communities like Asbury Park in the 2011 apportionment, Democrats gained a 32%-23% margin over Republicans in numbers of registered voters. Democrats Joann Downey and Eric Houghtaling won the two Assembly seats in 2015 and Gopal's 2017 win over Beck, combined with holds by Assembly incumbents Downey and Houghtaling, put all three District 11 seats in the hands of Democrats.

Election results, 1973–present

Senate

Assembly

Election results, 1965–1973

Senate

Assembly

District 11A

District 11B

District 11C

District 11D

District 11E

District 11F